“I expect the highest standards from our contractors. If we find any evidence of discrimination against asylum seekers it will be dealt with immediately as any such behaviour will not be tolerated.”

The properties investigated by the newspaper are owned by Stuart Monk, whose company Jomast, a subcontractor for G4S, holds the asylum contract for the north-east. Jomast and G4S, which have a contractual duty to “recognise that the safety and security of [asylum seekers] must not be jeopardised”, have denied that asylum seekers are singled out by a “red doors policy”.

John Whitwam, a G4S director, said last week there was “absolutely no such policy” and that fewer than 20% of Jomast’s properties were used to house asylum seekers. The Home Office began an audit after the report found asylum seekers claimed they had been targeted with dog excrement, eggs, stones and a National Front symbol on their doors.

The Times reported that asylum seekers at one house felt so stigmatised that they painted their door white, but it was repainted red after a Jomast employee visited and said it was “against company policy”. Of 168 properties identified by the newspaper as Jomast housing in the city, 155 had red front doors. Of the 66 residents spoken to by reporters, 62 homes were occupied by asylum seekers.

Suzanne Fletcher, a local resident who chairs the Liberal Democrats for Seekers of Sanctuary, said over the past four years the case had been raised with the Commons home affairs committee, the National Audit Office and former Redcar MP Ian Swales.

She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Wednesday: “In September 2012, we asked G4S if they would do something about the red doors and they replied that they had no intention of doing anything about it.”

Fletcher said the asylum seekers had been worried that it marked them out for attacks. “The police obviously have done everything that they can do but because asylum seekers are so vulnerable, they are frightened of jeopardising their case, things haven’t always been reported,” she said.

According to the Times, Jomast also owns many red-doored properties in Stockton-on-Tees housing asylum seekers. James Wharton, Conservative MP for Stockton South and minister for the northern powerhouse, said: “Not had any complaints about doors in Stockton but would clearly be a cause of concern if it’s the case. Suspect they got a job lot of doors or paint and just didn’t think about it.”

Those red front doors show a startling lack of empathy for asylum seekers | Anne Perkins

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Nick Forbes, the leader of Newcastle city council, told the Guardian that officials were urgently inspecting all Jomast-owned properties in the city to check that those housing asylum seekers were not marked out with red-painted doors.

Forbes said the council had received numerous complaints about Jomast since it received the Home Office contract to house asylum seekers while their claims are being processed.

He said: “One of the problems we’ve had is the entirely haphazard way in which Jomast pepperpots asylum seekers without any consideration for their welfare or the effect on the local community.

“Jomast has a track record of buying up the very cheapest housing, which tends to be in the areas of social deprivation. Over the years there has been tension as a direct result. In my ward, in west Newcastle, people complain it’s poor being dumped on the poor.”

Forbes said he was not aware of Jomast properties being marked out, “but council officials are out right now looking out for red doors. It used to be you could spot council houses because they all had the same burglar alarms. I’ve never heard of asylum seeker housing having the same coloured doors.”

After the story was published, G4S tweeted a denial of the claims.

The security company added that it would be taking immediate remedial action.

Whitwam said that although Jomast maintained there was no policy to paint doors red, it was “also clear that they have overused a single colour. Jomast have committed to deal with this issue over the next three to six months by repainting front doors in the area so there is no predominant colour.”